Ventilating apparatus



April 23, 1940. v. P. WINTON Y VENTILATING APPM'UKTUS Filed Aug. 11, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 April-23, 1940. v. P. WlNTON VENTILATING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 11,-1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 (a Vrnon P M72707;

,Pate n ted Apn 23, 1940 r PATENT, OFFICE;

, 2.10am vnm'msma mm rus Vernon P.Wlnton. m. Tenn. Application August 11, mi, a... 158,695 I 1 Claim (a. 98-43)- 1 UNITED-STATES i0 keeping uniform the temperature in, or of,

dwelling houses located particularly in the south- I em ones of the United States where conditions are .such that the air temperature is, at night,

, fairly reasonable or moderate but rises to a greatili ly excessive degree in. daytime.

The point involved in this is that .during theevening and at night the temperature is comparatively low and therefore what is commonly considered to be livable, whereas in the-daytime a. the temperature is excessively high. It, then, 'a

. means' can be devised tointr'oduce within the dwelling house, or other building, night air at its comparativelymoderate temperature andrestrict the substitution or adulteration of such compara- 25 .tively col air by the sunshine-heated air of daytime, the problem is solved to a practically major extent, it being well known that-if cool, night air is admitted to a dwelling or other enclosure and the doors and windows thereof subsequently so closed, the temperature will normally be reason ably comfortable during the ensuing day.

It is also well known that numerous refrigeration systems have been devised by means of which chilling of the atmosphere is obtained or 35 attained. The disadvantages associated with such systems are that the temperature may be excessively low as .is evidenced by the discomfort when the average person enters a, so-called air conditioned"- store or the like, coupled with "the o extraordinary expense involved in the installation of the necessary apparatus.

g It is with the abovefacts in view that I have devised the present invention which has for its general and primary object the provision of a 45 simply constructed and operated devicedesigned to be installed in the attic or air space beneath the roof of, a dwelling house or other building for the purpose of sucking in outside air continuously if desired though preferably at night and expelling it through the windows of the attic or any air vents which might be provided in case of installation in a warehouse, factory or plant of any kind.

In the southern States of this country it is 55 known that the night air is comparatively cool and that if it can be imprisoned or confined with: in a house until the next day the house will be reasonably comfortable. It is, therefore, an important object of the invention to provide means whereby a householder will be enabled, at any 5 v or all times, but particularly at night, to exhaust the heated atmosphere from his dwelling or other place and replace it with a constant I supply'of fresh air drawn infrom outdoors when the temperature is naturally lower, it being a feature of the invention that the doors and windows of the building may be subsequently closed, at least for the ensuing day, so that undesired heated air will be excluded.

A more specific object of the invention is to pro- 1 vide a ventilating apparatus embodying a motor driven fan adapted to be mounted, for example, in

the floor of the attic and involving the employment of means whereby heated air may be sucked up directly and vertically from the entire interior of the house and discharged through whatever vents or windows are present.

It is not new, broadly speaking, to install some sort of a ventilating fan or apparatus in anattic, or its equivalent, and some of suchdevices embody more or less lengthy wind-tunnels with their attributes of cumbersomeness and expense, such installations additionally being difficult where there is a very limited air space, perhaps from two to four feet between the attic floor and the roof, such a space being practically 'insuflicient to accommodate the conventional type of ventilator involving a'v'ertical fan, that is to say one in which the axis of rotation is horizontal, together with the adiunctive elements of a conduit of some sort or other.

As a preliminary summary it may be said that the present invention consists really in providing a unitary and portable structure which may be manufactured and assembled atsome convenient 40 plant and installed, without the exercise of any particular degree of skill and experience, within a home, or other place, at an openingin the celling of the upper story or, in other words, im-' 5 mediately above an opening in the attic floor, for v the purpose of extracting the vitiatedand heated air and discharging it .through any and all windows or other openings which may exist.

. An important object of the invention is to provide a ventilating apparatus in which the necessary fan is mounted for rotation about a vertical axis and is so constructed as to discharge the sucked up air horizontally or laterally outwardly toward all vents, windows or the like, the bladesas of the fan being peculiarly and especially constructed to accomplish this result.

Another very important object of the invention is to provide a construction wherein adequate, and in fact most eflicient, provision is made for changing the speed of rotation of the fan itself without changing the speed of rotation of the driving motor, said speed change means being manually operable and controllable, depending upon the necessities or exigencies of service.

A more speciflc object of the invention is to provide a ventilating apparatus embodying a rotary font having its shaft equipped with a single driven pulley engaged by a belt driven by a multipulleyed motor, the position of which may be manually varied to change the relationship of its pulleys to the pulley on the shaft of the fan to bring about the different desired selective speeds.

An additional object of the invention is to provide an apparatus or device of this character which will be simple and inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install, positive in operation, emcient and durable in service, and a general improvement in the art.

To the attainment of the foregoing and other objects and advantages the invention preferably consists in the details of construction and the arrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the device with por tions broken away for the sake of clearness,

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal cross sectional view taken on substantially the line 2-2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a fragmentary detail horizontal sectional view through the mechanism permitting the change in the speed of rotation of the fan as compared with that of the motor, this view being taken on substantially the line 3-3 of Figure 2,

Figure 4 is a detail side elevation with parts broken away and in section showing the drivin means,

Figure 5 is a detail cross section taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, I have shown the device as comprising a base frame In which is represented as of rectangular form, although it need not be, and which may be constructed of wood or metal. This frame is intended to be mounted above an opening ii in the floor of an attic, that is to say in the ceiling of the room or hallway beneath. logically the latter is the better location inasmuch as all the rooms in the house necessarily communicate with a hallway of some sort regardless of how small it may be. Located above the opening is a grille or lattice structure i2. 7 I

Rising from opposite sides of the frame ID are pairs of supporting members l3 which may be mounted in any one of several different ways although in the present instance these members are shown as pipes 'or other tubes having their lower ends engaged upon dowel pins ll or the like appropriately secured to the upper edges of the frame, I0, possibly by the simple expedient of being located within recesses ll bored therein. There are so many mechanical equivalents possible which are of such an obvious nature that it is deemed unnecessary to enumerate them.

secured, as by bolts it, the horizontal outstanding flange I! of a ring 20 which is T-shaped in cross section or which in other words includes, in addition to the horizontal flange ID, a vertical flange 2|.

The space between the main or base frame l0 and the ring 20 is intended to be enclosed and to effect this I provide a flexible housing 22, preferably of fabric, which has its lower end portion located within the conflnes of the frame I0 and secured thereto as by strips 22 fastened in place in any desired manner. Secured against the outer face of the vertical flange 2| beneath the horizontal flange 19 of the ring 20 is a ring 24 upon which the upper end of the flexible housing 22 is telescopically engaged, any desired means being provided for effecting positive securing.

Appropriately mounted and extending transversely of the ring 20 is a pair of parallel angle bars 25 upon which are bolted the legs 26 of a socket 21 which supports the entire fan assembly to be described. It should be mentioned, in passing, that the horizontal flange is of the ring 20 supports an upstanding cylindrical shield or shell 28 which surrounds the above mentioned fan structure.

The fan assembly preferably comprises a hub 29 containing a roller bearing structure 30 engaged upon an upstanding spindle 3| mounted within the socket 21. Projecting radially from the hub 29 and secured with respect thereto by means to be described are arms 32 which carry fan blades 33 which, as clearly disclosed in Figure 5, have their major portions inclined at an angle of approxirnatey thirty degrees and which have their upper edges terminating in horizontal portions or extensions 34, the purpose being that when the fan is rotated air drawn up thereby through the opening II and grille l2 and con ducted through the flexible housing 22 will be forced laterally outwardly in contradistinetion to'being discharged in the form of a vertical column as is the case with the ordinary type of fan.

The hub 29 and the radial arms 32 may be considered as a spider and the preferred construction is that the hub be formed with sockets 35 within which are pairs of projections 36 extending toward each other. The arms 22. are cast within the sockets and it is consequently clear that the projections 38 therein will operate as a positive lock to prevent any looseness or detachment of the arms under the influence of centrifugal force, it being remembered that the fan is intended to be driven at a fairly high speed. If the arms 32 were flrmly separate elements attached to the hub by rivets, bolts or the like, it is easily conceivable that looseness might develop whereas the present construction wherein actual casting is resorted to will preclude such a contingency.

The fan assembly also includes a single driven .pulley 31 of the V type. having its hub 38 of hollow form and secured to the hub 29, as by cap screws 39. As the hub has been described as containing the roller bearing structure 30, it is obviously chambered or of hollow form and the lower end of the hollow hub" of the, driven pulley is shown as telescoped therein, the purpose being to provide a Joint which will be very close fitting. Lubrication may be effected by an oil or grease-cup 40 preferably of the pressure type and this cup is located centrally of the hub 38 which is made hollow, as above mentioned.

to enable the lubricant to gain access to the roller bearing structure 30, the above mentioned close at between the hubs as and as being for the purpose of preventing any leakage and flying about of the lubricant when the fan is in operation, or at any other time for that matter. Leakage of the lubricant at the lower end of the hub 29 is prevented by providing any suitable or preferred oil or grease seal at the bottom of the roller bearing assembly as shown'above the step 4| on the spindle 3i. As it is most desirable to avoid any vibration while the fan is in operation the sockets 16 are preferably provided with bushings or sockets 42 of rubber immediately surrounding the upper ends of the tubes l3. Within these bushings orsockets, I provide coil springs 43 located above the upper ends of the tubes or pipes l3. Clearly the springs 43 and also the rubber bushings 42. will operate to cushion the angle bars l1 and consequently all the parts carried thereby including the entire fan assembly so that vibration will be reduced to a minimum and objectionable noise prevented. If preferred, in some installations, the springs might conceivably be omitted.

The flexible housing 22 is also a sound deadener or absorber in case there is any tendency for the development of noise.

The means for driving the fan consists of an electric motor and a belt drive and embodies a specially constructed mounting for the motor enabling the speed of rotation of the fan to be readily varied without changing the motor speed. The drive mechanism comprises an upstanding bracket 44 which is U-shaped in horizontal cross section or which in other words has parallel sides 45. This bracket is shown as mounted on a plurality of screw studs 46 which pass through one of the angle bars l1 and through a plate 41 disposed thereagainst, shoulders 48 being provided onthe studs engaging against the outer face of the plate 41. These studs carry nuts 49 bearing against the inner face of the angle bar I1 and also carry pairs of nuts 50 engaging against opposite sides of the bracket 44. 3B adjusting the nuts 50 the bracket maybe moved to a certain extent toward or from the ventilating device or frame thereof. The sides 45 of thebracket are provided at their intermediate portions with outwardly extending ledges 5|. Above the ledges the sides 45] are formed with inclined slots 52. 1

An electric motor 53 is carried by a U-shaped bracket 54 located partly within'the confines of the bracket 44 and the bracket 54 is pivotally mounted by virtue. of a rod 55 which passes through holes in the sides of the bracket 54 and throughthe slots 52 in the sides of the bracket 44. Secured upon the rod 55 outwardly of the bracket sides .45 are stop or guide plates 56 adapted to rest upon the ledges 5| and it will be observed that these ,plates are eccentric with respect to the rod for apurpose to be describedfi Outwardly of the plates 56 the rod carries handies 51.

' The motor shaft carries a plurality of stepped pulleys 58, 59 and 60 of the V-type. .The actual driving means for the fan consists of a belt 6l trained about the fan pulley 31 andabout a se+ lected one of. the pulleys 58, 55 and depending upon the desired speed of the fan. Regard-s less of which pulley is engaged by the belt, the

belt is always maintained taut owing to the fact that the motor is pivotally mounted by virtue of the engagement of the bracket 54 upon the rod edges of the fan blades.

55 which enables the weight of the motorto apply tension upon the belt. If necessary, to take up excessive slack in the belt orto loosen it so that the motor will. be in a vertical position, the brackit will be understood that when the motor 531s in operation the belt 6| will be driven and will in turn drive the pulley 31 and by virtue of the connection afforded by the studs 33 between the hub of the pulley 31 and the hub 28 of the fan, the fan will'be rotated. Owing to the inclination of the fan blades air within the building will be sucked up through the opening II and grille 7 l2 into and through the flexible housing or skirt '22 and will pass upwardly within the conflnes ofthe shell or shield 23 and be discharged at 'the' top thereof in a-horizontal or laterally outwardly direction, the air eventually being forced I v out through the windows or whatever air vents are provided in the attic or air space beneath the roof. This outward radial deflection of the air results from the provision of the horizontal extensions or flange portions 34 at'the upper Itv will be noted that all the fan mechanism is at the exhaust side of the device and the rotating parts willtherefore be automatically cooled on account of the contact L of the air current therewith. During the opera-' operation of the mechanism will be additionally.

deadened or absorbed owing to the provision of the flexible housing or skirt 22.

The operation of the speed change mechanism is as follows: When the drive belt 6| is engaged about the largest or lowermost motor pulley 55,

as shown in Figure 2, the motor is in its most elevated position which is maintained by engagement of the guide plate edges most remote from the rod 55 upon the ledges 5i. When the motor isin this position and the belt engaged about the pulleyy58 it is of course clear that'the fan is rotated at its maximum speed. ,Assuming that it is desired to reduce the speed to the minimum,-

the operatorvgrasps the handles 51 and turns them in either direction one-half turn or through an angle of one hundred and'eighty degrees.

thereby inverting the guide plates 56 until the.

edges thereof closest to-the rod 55 will engage upon the ledges 5|.

this and the action is still "further-facilitated The corners of the guide plates arerounded oil as shown so as to facilitate if. the operator pull'upwardiy upon the handles J 51 so as to support the weight of the motor while the guide plates are being inverted. When the guide plates are moved into this second mentioned position, as shown in Figure 4, the rod 55 will slide downwardly along the slots 52, thereby increasing the distance between the motor shaft and the axis of the fan. The belt 6! is of course I manually shifted from the pulley 53 onto the smallest pulley 60. The purpose in inverting the guide or stop plates 56 is twofold, one being to lower the motor so that the smallest pulley 33 will be in alinement with the fan pulley 31, and the other being to move the motor away from the fan to compensate for the difierence between the diameters of the pulleys 58 and 60, thereby maintaining the belt taut as well as in'proper alinement.

If the intermediate speed is desired, the belt is engaged about the central pulley 59 and the handles 51 are manipulated to rotate the guide plates one-fourth turn in either direction so as to bring either of the other edges thereof into engagement with the ledges 5|; In this instance the motor will be lowered and also moved outwardly away from the fan to a less degree than is thecase when shifting the belt from the largest pulley 58, as shown in Figure 2, onto the smallest pulley 60, as shown in Figure 4. This intermediate position for obtaining the intermediate speed of the fan is not illustrated as it is thought that it will be obvious from the description. The maintenance of the belt always in proper alinement with the fan pulley and the above described means for bodily moving the motor to insure proper tension on the belt constitute an extremely important feature of the invention.

Attention is invited to the fact that this ventilator device may be mounted in an air spacev where there is but little room beneath the roof and in instances where an unusually small space is available it is a simple matter to saw ofl the pipes i3, or replace them with shorter ones, so as to reduce the over-all height of the entire mechanism, the provision of the flexible housing or skirt 22 being important in this connection as it is obvious that upon removing the strips 23 the skirt may be pulled downto accord with the reductionlnheight of the device, after which the strips 23 will naturally be replaced. The decould not be true if the driven pulley 31 were located at the center of the device. The air, therefore, is in natural position to be sucked upwardly and kicked outwardly by the fan blades. In other words, it could be substantially practical to draw a line showing the actual travel of the air through the plenum chamber, which would be straight up around the base 28 which, not being solid but on the contrary being legged 211' of spider form will offer no material obstrucon.

Another feature to be noted is that all of the attachments, that is to say the belt, motor, grease cups, etc. are on the outside of thu apparatus where they are readily accessible and adjustable as contrasted with other known ventilators. For instance a new belt can be put on the fan without the necessity of undoing a single nut orscrew and the motor itself can likewise be removed for inspection or repairs by the owner without disturbing the remainder of the apparatus.

From' the foregoing description and a study of the drawings it will be seen that I have thus provided a simple and inexpensive mechanism which will be and which has been found to be extremely emcient in operation and in which vibration and noise are prevented so that smoothness and quietness while in operation will be assured. It is believed that the construction and advantages will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art without further explanation.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it should be understood that the disclosure is merely an exempliflcationof the principles involved as the right is reserved to make all such changes in the details of construction as will widen the field of utility and increase the adaptability of the device provided such changes constitute no departure from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. A ventilating device comprising a lower frame disposable over an opening in the floor I of an attic or air space, an upper frame resiliently mounted upon said lower frame, a flexible skirt connected with and bridging the space between said frames. a rotary fan assembly mounted mounted centrally of and above said upper frame, a drive motor carried by the upper frame and located to one side thereof.

'2. A ventilating apparatus comprising a base frame adapted to be mounted above an opening in the floor of an attic or the like, guide members rising from said base frame, an upper frame including a ring and angle bars secured to diametrically opposite sides thereof, socket members depending from said angle bars for telescopically receiving said guide members, an upstanding shell carried by said ring, a depending flexible skirt. bridging the space between the ring and said base frame and secured to the latter, and a motor driven fan assembly mounted at the center of the ring member.

3. A ventilating apparatus comprising connected lower and upper frame members disposable over an opening in the floor of an attic or airspace, a fan assembly mounted centrally of the upper frame member and rotatable about a vertical axis, a driven pulley forming part of the fan assembly, a motor carried by the upper frame and located exteriorly at the side thereof, a plurality of drive'pulleys carried by the motor shaft, a belt trained about the driven pulley and adapted to be engaged about a selected one of said plurality of drive pulleys, and means for shifting the. motor bodily laterally and vertically to maintain said belt horizontal regardless of which drive pulley it is trained about.

4. A ventilating apparatus comprising connected lower and upper frame members disposable over an opening in the floor of an attic or air space, a fan assembly mounted centrally of the upper frame member and rotatable about a vertical axis, a driven pulley forming part of the fan assembly, a motor carried by the upper frame and located exteriorly at the side thereof, a plurality of drive pulleys carried by the motor shaft. a belt trained about the driven pulley and adapted to-be engaged about a selected one of said plurality of drive pulleys, means for simultaneously shifting the motor laterally and vertically to compensate for the difference between the diameters of the successive drive pulleys for maintaining said-belt taut and horizontal, and other means for adiusting the position of the motor with respect to the upper frame to compensate for variations in belt lengths.

5. A ventilating device comprising a lower frame disposable over an opening in the floor of an attic orair space, an upper frame resili- 7 ently mounted upon said lower frame in spaced relation thereto, a skirt connected with and bridging the space between both frames a rotary fan assembly mounted centrally of and above said upper frame at the exhaust side of the device, and a drive motor for thefan assembly located at the side and entirely exteriorly of the device whereby there will be no obstruction to. the passage of air through the device.

6. A ventilating device comprising a stationary lower frame, an upper frame movable rela-' tively thereto, both of saidframes being disposable over an opening in the floor 01, an attic or air space, a flexible means extending between and removably secured tosaid frames, a ran assembly mounted centrally of and above-the upper frame and rotatable about a. vertical axis,

said fan assembly being at'the exhaust side of the device, and a. drive motor connected with the fan assembly and mounted at the side and entirely exteriorly of the device to be readily accessible and to avoid obstruction of the flow of air through the device. I

"7. A domestic ventilating apparatus comprising a grille adapted to be mounted at an opening in the attic floor of a dwelling house, a

shield mounted above the opening, a skirt movable with respect to and positioned between said shield and floor, means connecting said skirt and means connecting said skirt shield, impervious and floor, a fan located at the top of the shield and'projecting thereabove, a motor connected to said first named.- means andoperatively connected to said fan said legsforabsorbing vibration resulting irom the operation oi the motor.

: VERNON P. WINTON. 

